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To: Original Mad Dog who wrote (19241)	8/12/2002 4:37:45 AM
From: Solon	Respond to of 21057

Good post, OMD. I don't know that I disagree with any of your broad insinuations. However, if you read my post carefully you will see that I acknowledged those very points. I don't know how your examples that time, thought and competition have improved cars, airline tickets, and phone costs weigh on the matter under discussion. If you think about it, you will see what I mean. Not only do I not deny room for improvement, but I guarantee it! What you did not include in your response (which would have given the most intellible perspective) was the roster of all the attempts at "improvement" which have failed or been rejected for economic, technical, or moral reasons. The fact that Salks vaccine was an improvement does not imply that leeches are...if I may be over-obvious. "The point is, people in many places are frustrated by the level of service provided by the local public school" As I said, Americans have a pretty good educational system. There is a lot of propaganda being disseminated by Institutions concerned to make political inroads. "Vouchers, implemented properly, might give them a way out." Fine. Any person who was fair, decent, and above board would support an honest improvement. I have pointed out that this seems somewhat illusory on the face of it (and I don't mean improvement is illusory). I support anything which will improve ALL children in reaching their potential--where it does not jeopardize the pre-eminence of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And I would certainly support vouchers if I could be convinced to see the benefit. "As for being willing to pay for it, I think that consumers are willing to pay for well run schools and not willing to pay for poorly run ones. And a common theme in industries where competition has been introduced is that costs go down, often way down. Competition has a way of forcing that to happen." I agree. In industry this often involves tecnological improvements. Education, however, is predominantly a people industry, and we are mostly talking about the teacher as the linch-pin of the system. We are talking about wages; we are talking about accountabilty. How will a voucher give higher (or lower) wages...while improving efficiency?